School Participation Questionnaire (SPQ): Italian Translation, Cultural Adaptation, and Pilot Testing in Children with Neurodevelopmental Disorders

Introduction: According to leading occupational therapy models, the environment appears to be a key element in fostering occupational performance and participation. There is an emerging need to identify an instrument that can assess these aspects in the school environment. Currently, there are no rating scales in Italy for the school participation of children with neurodevelopmental disorders. For this reason, this study aims to culturally adapt and translate the School Participation Questionnaire (SPQ) to Italian and to pilot test the translated Italian version on children with neurodevelopmental disorders. Methods: The original scale was translated from English to Italian using the guidelines "Translation and Cultural Adaptation of Patient Reported Outcomes Measures-Principles of Good Practice". The psychometric properties analyzed were the following: content validity, construct validity, cross-cultural validity, and internal consistency. Construct validity was assessed using the Italian version of the Sensory Processing Measure (SPM). Results: The Italian version of the SPQ was administered to 22 children. The mean +/- SD of the score was 9.32 +/- 1.36; Cronbach's alpha was 0.935 (p < 0.01). The Pearson's correlation coefficient with the SPM scores was -0.622 (p < 0.01). Conclusions: This pilot testing study for the validation of the Italian version of the SPQ showed good validity and reliability results. Thanks to this study, it would be possible to further analyze the tool for the evaluation of the environment and school participation of children with neurodevelopmental disorders, in particular autism spectrum disorder. It is a quick and easy instrument that focuses on the environment as an active variable in the child's occupational performance.